Newsweek calls Obama the nation's "first gay president" for supporting Gay Marriage. This article in Salon asks, what about Buchanan, our actual first gay - as in in-love-with-another-man - President?

This Salon article by Jim Loewen, in response to Newsweek's I-don't-really-understand-the-meaning-of-the-word-GAY cover

is fascinating reading, in which he talks about how the actual first gay president, James Buchanan, was a man who was in love with another man.

It includes this quote from

"Buchanan’s May 13, 1844, letter to a Mrs. Roosevelt. Describing his deteriorating social life after his great love, William Rufus King, senator from Alabama, had moved to Paris to become our ambassador to France, Buchanan wrote: I am now “solitary and alone,” having no companion in the house with me. I have gone a wooing to several gentlemen, but have not succeeded with any one of them."

I love the article's premise that if we're not real about our history (and how sometimes in our history we've moved backwards on equality and tolerance) we'll have trouble actually making progress towards a world that celebrates differences.

President Buchanan, a gay man.  That's pretty cool.

But for Newsweek to call President Obama "The First Gay President" because he came out in support of gay marriage is like calling President Lyndon B. Johnson "The First Black President" because he signed the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act.  Come on, people.  "The First Outspoken Ally," maybe.

I really do like the mocked cover Salon ran:

Now THAT would be an issue of Newsweek I'd pick up.

Namaste,
Lee



ps - Jim Loewen's article first appeared here, on the George Mason University's History News Network.

pps - Actually, the cover article in Newsweek on page 22 is called "The President of the United States Shifted The Mainstream In One Interview" by Andrew Sullivan.  And it's pretty great.  But I still have issues with the magazine cover.

Gay for Pay: What's Missing From the "Straight Actors Can Play Gay But Gay Actors Can't Play Straight Convincingly" Dust-Up

So there was this Newsweek column a few days ago by an openly gay entertainment reporter, Ramin Setoodeh:

Straight Jacket: Heterosexual actors play Gay all the time. Why doesn't it ever work in reverse?

about how we, as a society, are willing to watch straight actors play gay (think Brokeback Mountain, where both Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal are straight actors who play these cowboys who fall in passionate love with each other...) but that gay actors, when they try to play straight, make a farce of it.

He cites as proof the "there's something about his performance that feels off" Jonathan Groff as Jesse St. James - Rachel's love interest on "Glee," and also the "it's weird to see Hayes play straight" Sean Hayes (the more flamboyant gay character from Will and Grace, who recently came out) as the romantic lead versus Kristin Chenoweth on Broadway in "Promises, Promises."

The openly gay actor Jonathan Groff as Jesse St. James
getting all singy-makey-outy with
Lea Michelle as Rachel Barry in the Broadway musical "Spring Awakening."

They play love interests to each other once again in "Glee,"
and you can see a video of one of their scenes together here!

Here they are together in a still from "Glee"

There's been a lot of noise and blowback on the premise (and the specifics) of the article (like this great rebuttal by David Dean Bottrell here, and Kristin Chenowith's rebuke of Newsweek for even running the piece in the first place, calling it "horrendously homophobic") at the article's upshot - that gay actors understandably stay closeted because no one can believe a gay actor playing straight. Then of course, the author of the article published a defense, here. And most recently, this great article by Aaron Sorkin pointing out that the real culprit is our culture's obsession with the private lives of public people. Tabloids. "Entertainment" shows.

My first reaction to this whole thing was "really? Jesse St. James is being played by a gay actor? How cool is that!"

My second reaction was that I'm wondering if watching a known heterosexual actor play gay makes it somehow feel "safer" for people uncomfortable with gay sexuality to watch. Watching two guys kiss passionately, and knowing they're enjoying it, might be uncomfortable in that it makes them reflect on their own sexuality, or their own discomfort.

But watching two guys kiss passionately, and knowing they're really straight, and are probably just doing it because it's a good job, and pays well... well, everyone does stuff they don't particularly love for a paycheck sometimes, right? Okay, and it just really proves those straight guys are amazing actors. Yeah. They're probably thinking about women while they kiss each other...

See? Those uncomfortable-with-gay-sexuality people can watch the two guy make-out session without getting too self-reflective or squirmy. It's just acting, after all.

And maybe when we flip it, that distance backfires. Watching a gay actor play straight, maybe uncomfortable-with-gay-sexuality people think, well, I know he really would be rather kissing a guy, so it's hard to buy that straight kiss.

Maybe uncomfortable-with-gay-sexuality people don't like the notion that closeted gay people fool straight people all the time, and that Ha-HA! If they know an actor is gay, they can't let go of that fact because it's such an issue for them personally, and that knowledge prevents them from actually seeing the performance for what it is.

Why don't we watch a gay male actor kissing a woman on screen and think - man, that's some mighty fine acting?

Because Jesse St. James had me fooled. And isn't that the point of acting? To take on the role of someone else and tell their story?

I hope every GLBTQ Actor comes out.

The more of them that do, the easier this whole thing will be for everyone.

As the Amazing Kristin Chenoweth said in her rebuttal to the newsweek article:

Lastly, as someone who’s been proudly advocating for equal rights and supporting GLBT causes for as long as I can remember, I know how much it means to young people struggling with their sexuality to see out & proud actors like Sean Hayes, Jonathan Groff, Neil Patrick Harris, and Cynthia Nixon succeeding in their work without having to keep their sexuality a secret.

And while I thought Jonathan Groff (Jesse) has a great voice, is a good actor, and is easy on the eyes, knowing he's gay makes me an even bigger fan of him... and of the show.

What do you think? Did you know Jesse St. James was being played by a gay actor? Does it matter to you?

Gleekily yours,

Lee